The Confidence-Man
О книге
Аннотация
Long considered the author's strangest novel, this work is a comic allegory aimed at the optimism and materialism of mid-18th-century America. A mysterious shape-changing confidence-man approaches passengers on a Mississippi steamboat and, winning over the (not quite innocent) victims with his charm, urges them to trust implicitly in the cosmos, in nature, and even in human nature - with predictable results.
This novel represented a departure for Herman Melville, a satirical and socially acute work that was to be a further step away from his sea novels. Yet it confused and angered reviewers who preferred to pigeonhole him as an adventure writer. Some have argued that the book was a joke on the readers loyal to his sea stories, but if so, it backfired. Dismissed by critics as unreadable, and an undoubted financial failure, the novel's cold reception undermined Melville's belief in his ability to make a living writing works that were both popular and profound, and he soon gave up fiction. It was not until the mid-20th-century that critics rediscovered the book and praised its wit, modern technique, and wry view that life may be just a cosmic con game.
- Chapter 1 CHAPTER I. A MUTE GOES ABOARD A BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI
- Chapter 2 CHAPTER II. SHOWING THAT MANY MEN HAVE MANY MINDS
- Chapter 3 CHAPTER III. IN WHICH A VARIETY OF CHARACTERS APPEAR
- Chapter 4 CHAPTER IV. RENEWAL OF OLD ACQUAINTANCE
- Chapter 5 CHAPTER V. THE MAN WITH THE WEED MAKES IT AN EVEN QUESTION WHETHER HE BE A GREAT SAGE OR GREAT SIMPLETON
- Chapter 6 CHAPTER VI. AT THE OUTSET OF WHICH CERTAIN PASSENGERS PROVE DEAF TO THE CALL OF CHARITY
- Chapter 7 CHAPTER VII. A GENTLEMAN WITH GOLD SLEEVE-BUTTONS
- Chapter 8 CHAPTER VIII. A CHARITABLE LADY
- Chapter 9 CHAPTER IX: TWO BUSINESS MEN TRANSACT A LITTLE BUSINESS
- Chapter 10 CHAPTER X. IN THE CABIN
- Chapter 11 CHAPTER XI. ONLY A PAGE OR SO
- Chapter 12 CHAPTER XII. STORY OF THE UNFORTUNATE MAN, FROM WHICH MAY BE GATHERED WHETHER OR NO HE HAS BEEN JUSTLY SO ENTITLED
- Chapter 13 CHAPTER XIII. THE MAN WITH THE TRAVELING-CAP EVINCES MUCH HUMANITY, AND IN A WAY WHICH WOULD SEEM TO SHOW HIM TO BE ONE OF THE MOST LOGICAL OF OPTIMISTS
- Chapter 14 CHAPTER XIV: WORTH THE CONSIDERATION OF THOSE TO WHOM IT MAY PROVE WORTH CONSIDERING. Note: [14.1]
- Chapter 15 CHAPTER XV. AN OLD MISER, UPON SUITABLE REPRESENTATIONS, IS PREVAILED UPON TO VENTURE AN INVESTMENT. Note: [15.1]
- Chapter 16 CHAPTER XVI: A SICK MAN, AFTER SOME IMPATIENCE, IS INDUCED TO BECOME A PATIENT
- Chapter 17 CHAPTER XVII. TOWARDS THE END OF WHICH THE HERB-DOCTOR PROVES HIMSELF A FORGIVER OF INJURIES
- Chapter 18 CHAPTER XVIII. INQUEST INTO THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE HERB-DOCTOR
- Chapter 19 CHAPTER XIX. A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
- Chapter 20 CHAPTER XX. REAPPEARANCE OF ONE WHO MAY BE REMEMBERED
- Chapter 21 CHAPTER XXI. A HARD CASE
- Chapter 22 CHAPTER XXII. IN THE POLITE SPIRIT OF THE TUSCULAN DISPUTATIONS. Note: [22.1]
- Chapter 23 CHAPTER XXIII. IN WHICH THE POWERFUL EFFECT OF NATURAL SCENERY IS EVINCED IN THE CASE OF THE MISSOURIAN, WHO, IN VIEW OF THE REGION ROUND-ABOUT CAIRO, HAS A RETURN OF HIS CHILLY FIT. Note: [23.1]
- Chapter 24 CHAPTER XXIV. A PHILANTHROPIST UNDERTAKES TO CONVERT A MISANTHROPE, BUT DOES NOT GET BEYOND CONFUTING HIM
- Chapter 25 CHAPTER XXV. THE COSMOPOLITAN MAKES AN ACQUAINTANCE
- Chapter 26 CHAPTER XXVI. CONTAINING THE METAPHYSICS OF INDIAN-HATING, ACCORDING TO THE VIEWS OF ONE EVIDENTLY NOT SO PREPOSSESSED AS ROUSSEAU Note: [26.1] IN FAVOR OF SAVAGES
- Chapter 27 CHAPTER XXVII. SOME ACCOUNT OF A MAN OF QUESTIONABLE MORALITY, BUT WHO, NEVERTHELESS, WOULD SEEM ENTITLED TO THE ESTEEM OF THAT EMINENT ENGLISH MORALIST WHO SAID HE LIKED A GOOD HATER. Note: [27.1]
- Chapter 28 CHAPTER XXVIII. MOOT POINTS TOUCHING THE LATE COLONEL JOHN MOREDOCK
- Chapter 29 CHAPTER XXIX. THE BOON COMPANIONS
- Chapter 30 CHAPTER XXX. OPENING WITH A POETICAL EULOGY OF THE PRESS AND CONTINUING WITH TALK INSPIRED BY THE SAME
- Chapter 31 CHAPTER XXXI. A METAMORPHOSIS MORE SURPRISING THAN ANY IN OVID. Note: [31.1]
- Chapter 32 CHAPTER XXXII. SHOWING THAT THE AGE OF MAGIC AND MAGICIANS IS NOT YET OVER
- Chapter 33 CHAPTER XXXIII. WHICH MAY PASS FOR WHATEVER IT MAY PROVE TO BE WORTH
- Chapter 34 CHAPTER XXXIV. IN WHICH THE COSMOPOLITAN TELLS THE STORY OF THE GENTLEMAN-MADMAN
- Chapter 35 CHAPTER XXXV. IN WHICH THE COSMOPOLITAN STRIKINGLY EVINCES THE ARTLESSNESS OF HIS NATURE
- Chapter 36 CHAPTER XXXVI. IN WHICH THE COSMOPOLITAN IS ACCOSTED BY MYSTIC, WHEREUPON ENSUES PRETTY MUCH SUCH TALK AS MIGHT BE EXPECTED. Note: [36.1]
- Chapter 37 CHAPTER XXVII. THE MYSTICAL MASTER INTRODUCES THE PRACTICAL DISCIPLE
- Chapter 38 CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE DISCIPLE UNBENDS, AND CONSENTS TO ACT A SOCIAL PART. Note: [38.1]
- Chapter 39 CHAPTER XXXIX. THE HYPOTHETICAL FRIENDS
- Chapter 40 CHAPTER XL. IN WHICH THE STORY OF CHINA ASTER IS AT SECOND-HAND TOLD BY ONE WHO, WHILE NOT DISAPPROVING THE MORAL, DISCLAIMS THE SPIRIT OF THE STYLE
- Chapter 41 CHAPTER XLI. ENDING WITH A RUPTURE OF THE HYPOTHESIS
- Chapter 42 CHAPTER XLII. UPON THE HEEL OF THE LAST SCENE THE COSMOPOLITAN ENTERS THE BARBER'S SHOP, A BENEDICTION ON HIS LIPS
- Chapter 43 CHAPTER XLIII. VERY CHARMING
- Chapter 44 CHAPTER XLIV. IN WHICH THE LAST THREE WORDS OF THE LAST CHAPTER ARE MADE THE TEXT OF DISCOURSE, WHICH WILL BE SURE OF RECEIVING MORE OR LESS ATTENTION FROM THOSE READERS WHO DO NOT SKIP IT
- Chapter 45 CHAPTER XLV. THE COSMOPOLITAN INCREASES IN SERIOUSNESS
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